Keir Starmer gave his first speech as the United Kingdom's prime minister outside Number 10 on Friday, July 5, shortly after King Charles III asked him to form a government during a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace known as the "kissing of hands," in which Starmer officially became prime minister.
In his speech, Starmer promised that his Labour government will work from day one on national renewal. "The work of change begins immediately. But have no doubt, we will rebuild Britain," he said, after Labour ended 14 years of Conservative rule in a landslide election win.
The new government faces huge challenges, including fixing the country's sluggish economic and social malaise resulting in part from the UK's exit from the European Union, the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and several Conservative Party scandals.
Rishi Sunak earlier apologized to the public after his Conservatives were trounced by Labour in the election. The 44-year-old former financier gambled on going to the country six months before he had to, hoping that better economic data would swing public support back toward the Tories.
"To the country, I would like to say first and foremost, I am sorry," he said outside the Prime Minister's residence at Downing Street, before heading to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation as prime minister to King Charles III. "I have given this job my all, but you have sent a clear signal that the government of the United Kingdom must change. And yours is the only judgement that matters. I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss."
The scale of the defeat made it inevitable that Sunak – the conservative party's fifth leader since 2010 – would have to step down as Tory head as well. But he said that he would stay on in the role until the arrangements were made for an internal leadership contest, which is expected to be a fight for the ideological soul of the party.
Sunak saw a record number of his top ministerial team lose their seats, including Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt. His immediate predecessor as prime minister, Liz Truss, also lost her seat.
Sunak – an observant Hindu who is Britain's first prime minister of color – wished his successor Keir Starmer well, calling him "a decent, public-spirited man who I respect."
"One of the most remarkable things about Britain is just how unremarkable it is that two generations after my grandparents came here with little, I could become prime minister," he added. "And that I could watch my two young daughters light Diwali candles on the steps in Downing Street. We must hold true to that idea of who we are."